Not yet 36 years of age, Mozart died of illness in 1791. At the time of his death he was working on a major composition. What was it?
A) A concerto for cor anglais B) A double string quartet C) A requiem mass ü D) A tragicomic opera
This mass for the dead, the unfinished Requiem, is a staple of Mozart legend due to what was once supposed to be a mystery regarding who commissioned the composer to write it. Though it was necessarily incomplete when he died, it had already received its first partial performance, sung for Mozart himself one afternoon by the friends who had gathered at his bedside; he died just after midnight that night. It was performed again a week later in a church. The work was completed by Mozart’s students, notably Franz Xaver Suessmayr, in order that the commission on it could be collected, but their contribution — the exact extent of which is a matter of vigorous debate — falls not surprisingly short of Mozart’s in both inspiration and technique. The issue of how best to perform the Requiem — which of several possible completions to use — is not likely ever to be unanimously resolved.
